Can kung fu and tae kwon do defend yourself in a street fight?

Question

what other arts defend you in this kind of situation?

Answer 1

A good well rounded style would be freestyle Karate.You will learn stand up,ground,grappling and weapons.What a lot of people don't understand is that freestyle Karate is about practical street defence not who can kick the highest or punch a pad the hardest.It's definitely not a sport martial art like TKD or BJJ.The motto of my style is the best of everything in progression.Basically that means we don't care where the technique comes from we improve it and integrate it into our style while still maintaining tradition as do most freestyle Karate's.
The hardest thing is finding a good experienced instructor.I would recommend Bushi Kai or Zen Do Kai, but if your not in Australia or New Zealand you may have some difficulty finding some one who teaches these styles.These styles also usually have separate classes available to everyone in Muay Thai and BJJ/Submission/Shoot wrestling.If you can't find one of these i would suggest Kempo or Enshin or another freestyle Karate.

Answer 2

How many techniques do you think there actually are? A kick is a kick. A punch is a punch. A lock is a lock. A choke is a choke. It's amazing how people get so focused on what style they are using. What's the difference between a Kung Fu kick and a Karate kick? Does it matter? All martial arts were developed to do the exact same thing: Stop someone from hurting you.

This is my problem with family oriented classes (kids and adults in the same class). You don't want to teach kids how to fight. You can teach them without them knowing, but you can't have them sparring at full speed because they don't understand control. Adults on the other hand, need to be shown that the techniques they are learning can be used when it counts. Many schools don't make this distinction and that's why some in the martial arts community discredit them.

When I was a kid studying Tae Kwon Do (admittedly, it was a McDojo, but I was a kid and didn't know any better) there was a Korean boy in my class who was about five years younger than me, but he was my height and much heavier than me. My instructor called him 'the rock' because he didn't move around much. He could take any technique you threw at him with a smile on his face. Then he'd throw a simple punch or kick and it was like being hit with a baseball bat. I wouldn't have wanted to see what he would do in a real fight.

There are styles out there that have been modified for use in competition, like Wushu. But the techniques in Wushu come from the same origin as all other martial arts.

Answer 3

Oh. My. Gosh. James h on this forum said that kung fu is just "a dance"? it is an ancient martial art, older than tae kwon do, and an effective self defense. People say that kung fu isn't effective to use in fighting? Pshaw. In all of the kung fu forms, there are blocks to defend against certain strikes, strikes to get around certain strikes, kick combinations, etc. The list goes on. Kung fu isn't about throwing your enemy. It's using their force against them. The "dancing" thing might look like dancing because you go on offense, then defense, and offense, to maintain a balance, just like yin and yang. You strike to injure and defend yourself. It's simple, and requires a lot of effort, but if you've got what it takes, then you can do it. Just find an authentic teacher. (therein lies the challenge) Good luck!

Answer 4

Which Kung Fu? San Shou/San Da has prove themselve to be very effective and China soldiers use it. So why not?

As for others, I wouldn't take them unless you REALLY know what you're looking for, but again.... That would be like as dig through trash can for a 5 star restaturant dinner.

As for Tae Kwon Do, it depend... Same as above, I wouldn't take them. However some Tae Kwon Do gyms are very good, but you'd need to know what to look for or the instructor will be laughing all way to the bank.

Answer 5

Depends greatly on whom against, and whom is the Kung Fu or Kwon Do person. There are some great combat styles of Kung Fu out there, San Soo also known as San Shao, Wing Tsun, Kenpo or Kempo all are well known for their street worthiness.
Kwon Do depends if it hs elements of Tang So Do or Hwrang Do, or Gum Do or many of the other Korean Combat arts that have not been manipulated to fit in a sporting event. Please check out my site. Krackskullz.com you will like the info. It is new, so please be patient. I will be adding alot daily.

Answer 6

Any Martial Art can help you in a street fight (especially if it's been taught with a proper practical application), because it's better than not knowing anything at all. if it helps you to be more prepared, I could care less whether it's Karate, Kung Fu, or anything else.

but the Martial Art is ONLY AS GOOD as the person who uses it.

Answer 7

MOst of the traditinal martial arts aer useful for that IF the instructor put sufficient emphasis on practical application. I have used several varieties of martial arts in those situations, Kung Fu, Karate, Tae Kwan Do, Akido among others. It isnt about the art or style, itis about proper training in the use of the techniques. That is how I was trained and that is how I train all of my students.

Answer 8

what kind of situation are you talking about?

are we talking defense against weapons?

if your attackers have knives or sticks or numbers, then it isn't going to really matter as much as everything will be a desperation move. (unless of course the MA you are talking about is a weapon based ma- and you happen to have that weapon on you- and it is not nunchaku as that is more likely to harm you than your opponent).

however if you are talking about unarmed MA against a single opponent then it will certainly provide you an advantage IF IT WAS TRAINED AND TAUGHT PROPERLY.

by proper training I mean training with resistance against an opponent in a realistic situation and sparring realistically (no tkd rules or point sparring).

against multiple opponents well, the odds of you winning decline exponentially (unless of course they are midgets or trekkies), however if your goal is to get away then that is not an unrealistic goal, but still facing multiple attackers is a HUGE disadvantage and the odds are always going to be largely in favor of your opponents.

the more realistically you train, the better your odds.

EDIT: David B:
much of bruce lee's "insights" come from watching and imitating muhammad ali.

Speaking of which- you do have a point, most tma blocking does not in fact help you against boxing- this is in fact why many boxers believe that they have the be-all end all martial art- when the real problem is that people teach "TKD" blocking which is unworkable against a combo- however you can't throw combos and repeatedly strike your opponent because of the "rules" of many martial arts tournaments.

Answer 9

Yes...

Provided you learn the applications as well as the forms.
A little background knowledge in motion, force and momentum helps too!

When defendig yourself on the street you do not have to observe all of the nicities of competition rules.

When I am on the street I ALWAYS have my kung fu weapon with me (a walking stick.)

Answer 10

Street fighting has no rule. Most of the time it ends up being a wrestling match in which case any martial training goes down the drain. Furthermore, the teaching of self-defense is actually detrimental to streetfighting in that provides a false sense that you can actually fight which is not true at all. The only way to learn to fight is to actually fight - which no one can teach you but yourself. Martial arts can teach you techniques, but it will not teach to to fight.